Stretcher



Feb. 17, 1942. A. J. M. VAN GAssELT 2,273,672

' sTRETcHER Filed March 29, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 'l NVENTOR= ANTONIUSJOHANNES MATHIJ VAN @Am' B'Ya/'nagf/w/ ATT ORN EVS Feb. 17, l942.\ A. J.M. VAN GAssELT- 27,273,672n

STRETCHER Filed March 29, 1940 K 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Lim.

framers Patented Feb. I 7, 1942 STRETCHER Antonius Johannes Mathijs vanGasselt,

Venlo, Netherlands v.'lppliaaion'Maren 29, 1940, serial No. 326,649 `Inthe'Netherlands N ovember 3, 1939 5 Claims.

n is generauy known that great dimculues are `still experienced `inlifting and placing on a stretcher patients who have been wounded, oftenin someunknown manner, and who have to .be transportedthe maindicultyzbeing the'lack of a suitable stretcher. y

Several stretchers good in themselves are known `which are satisfa-ctoryfor the transportation of the wounded persons, but the diiculties do`not relate so much to the transportation of a Wounded person once hehas been established on the stretcher, as on lifting the patient andplacing him on the stretcher. Many hands are needed for ,this and up tothe present it has been practicallyl'impossible to have usuch a patientlaid on the stretcher without altering his position, whereas it is ofthev greatest importance that the patient is placed on ,the operatingtable `as nearly as possible in the position in which he was found.

yThe .present invention has for itspurpose to provide a device by meansof which'a wounded person may be lifted from the ground in a -simple andquick manner and further:` conveyed withoutpain ordanger resultingtherefrom.

`According to the` invention use is made for this purpose of a stretcheror a similar device consisting of a rolled-up length of some textile orother material adaptedv for rolling-up, which device isl adapted to beunrolled-under a person lying on the same. v f

It will therefore no longer be necessary first to lift the woundedpersonby hand in order to push orto place 'a stretcher under him; the deviceaccording to the invention may be passed with a small portion thereofunrolled under the yhead of the patient and the roll placed underhisneck, after which the said roll is further unrolled in a directiontowards the feet of the patient. By subsequentlylifting the rolled-outpiece of material at both ends, twoorkmore persons will be able, Whilekeeping the stretcher taut, to lift the woundedpe'rson from the groundand either to place him onan ordinary stretcher or, if needed,

f to convey him further at once, either with or without the aid of4other means. The wounded person may now be conveyed to the operatingplacel as` much as possible in `thesame attitude as in which he had beenfound. o '4 l The novel stretcher according to the invention `may beprovided rat least at that end of the lengthv of material which islocated inside theroll with a transverse roll comprising ya exiblerolling core, which will greatly facilitate the unrolling even on a veryuneven ground. The trans- Verse roll may be of various kinds ofmaterial; a simple and ecient `embodiment is the one in which accordingto the invention a rope, a cord or a coiled wire of metal such as thatof a cable is'used. TheA transverse rolls may also serve as handles andfor this purpose the piece of material may be provided with grippingopenings. Such openings may also be provided along the longitudinaledges, for which purpose the said edgesmay be reinforced by hems or insome other manner.

For the purpose of unrolling the roll under the patientvarious-constructions are possible. A suitable one is that in whichaccording to the invention' one ormore draw members are attached tothe'inner end of the rolled up length of material. 'I'he said membersmay then be rolled up together With the material. By pulling on thesemembers, the roll may be easily unrolled under the wounded person.

Accordingto the inventionthe roll is preferably 'rolled in suchmannerthat during the unrolling of the materialthe body of the personlying von thesame will constitute the unrolling thereof maybemarked witharrows or othery marks. y

In orderto promote a correct unrolling of the stretcher, the facethereof which will be uppermost in the unrolled condition may be givenspecialadhesive properties. This also promotes the correct unrollingwhen pulling on the draw members, vif these have been rolled up togetherwith vthe material.` 1 i Owing to the `application of the invention theperson Whois to be conveyed on the stretcher will sufferless or not atall by the said treatment, which not only will be favorable for theoperation to be performed and may even save his life, but which `alsosaves him from complications, needless pains or anaggravation of anypains he may `be suffering. If no ordinary stretcher isavailable, whichmay be the case e. g. in disasters involving a great number of persons,the new stretcher 'will serve very Well i'or transporting a'woundedpersonover a distance. `For this purpose according to the inventionthere maybe provided means, such as longitudinal hems through whichvsticks or tubes may be passed, transverse bandsv withv loops for thehands, etc., which will `render it possible to keep the length Aofmaterial taut in a transverse direction,` if needed, with theaid ofseveral persons.

The'novel stretcher fills a` longfelt Want, it is tories and shops inthe same manner as e. g.

well-known rst aid kit.

The invention will now be further explained by means of some embodimentsillustrated in the drawings in which y Fig. 1 is a top view of astretcher in rolled up condition ready to be put away.

Fig. 2 shows the draw members partly unrolled.

Fig. 3 represents the draw members further unrolled and pulled out whilea small portion of the stretcher itself is unrolled.

Fig. 4 is a cross section through the line IV-IV in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a cross section as in Fig. 4 while the stretcher is furtherunrolled. v

Fig. 6 is a top view of the stretcher completely unrolled.

Fig. 7 illustrates a modification of the stretcher.

Fig. 8 shows the same stretcher in partly unrolled condition.

Fig. 9 illustrates another modification.

In the figures the reference numeral I represents the length of materialupon which the Wounded person is to be laid (Fig. 6). This material maybe e. g. linen or canvas and is provided at the end with rolls of ropeor braided cord 2, 3 and cut out and edged openings 4, 5 for the hands.The padding at 2y forms a rolling core; the padding at 3 need not beround and may e. g. have the shape of a ring segment. At the end at 2which end has been located inside the roll there are attached two drawbands 6, 1 the ends of whichare indicated by 8, 9 in Figures 2, 3, and4. v l

When preparing the novel stretcher for use one unrolls the ends B, 9 ofthe draw bands, subsequently holding the end 3 in onefhand and unrollingwith the other hand a small portion of the roll (Fig. 3) i. e. so farthat the roll may be placed under the neck of the patient while beingpassed under his head in the direction of the dotted arrow in Fig. 4.This may be easily done without any danger to the patient. After thisthe two draw bands 6, 1 are employed for unrolling the roll under thebody of the patient in the direction of the solid arrows in Figures 4and 5. 'I'he material of the stretcher in that case will not rub againstthe body of the patient, but will unroll under him so that he will notbe disturbed thereby. If desired one person may hold the end 3 whileanother person pulls on the draw members with both hands, thus unrollingthe stretcher, according to circumstances.

Owing to the fact that the core 2 of the roll is flexible, it will alsobe possible to unroll the stretcher under the patient if he is lying onuneven ground; the invention, however, is not restricted to this exampleand one may also use rigid or semi-rigid rolls or tubes such as e. g.tubes of the airplane cable type. The tubes may then contain the corewhich may engage with members outside the tubes, by means of which thestretcher may be unrolled and which need end 2 of the length of materialor else to connect the said ends with each other in order to use them ashandles for further transportation.

It might also be possible to pass a carrying band through the openings5. The edges of the length of material I or of the ends thereof may beprovided with hems or loops through which, if desired, there may bepassed light longitudinal tubes or sticks for transportation over agreater distance.

In order to ensure a straight unrolling of the roll even when pulling alittle awry on the bands 6, 1, it is advisable according to theinvention to impart to the face of the material which lies uppermostrelatively great adhesive power. This also causes the roll to unrollbetter under the wounded person. For the same purpose it is alsopossible according to the invention to make the underside of the bandsVery smooth. Many modifications and improvements are possible within thescope of the invention.

As a material for the stretcher a textile material either prepared orunprepared may be used. This may also be true for the bands, but thesemight also consist of rope, steel wire or metal strips or springs.

In its rolled condition the whole forms a thin roll which is eventhinner in proportion to its length than for the sake of clarity hasbeen represented in Fig. l. When unrolled the area of the stretcher isof about 60 X 200 cm. It is not necessary thatthe length of material isa closed whole, and although according to the embodiment illustrated,the weight of the whole is but slight, this may even -be reduced, ifdesired, by providing slots or recesses. The draw members, if desired,may be detachable or applied from the outside.

According to the embodiments of Figures 7. and 8 the longitudinal edgesof the stretcher I are formed with hems I0, II, open at the ends,through which light metal tubes or sticksmay be passed after unrolling,in order to carry the stretcher. Instead of supporting the stretcher inthis manner the stretcher may also be carried by means of opposite pairsof handles I2, I3 which may be formed by the ends of transverse bandsI4, I5 preferably made of linen, canvas, or some other suitable materialfolded over and stitched fast to the underside of the stretcher, at thesame time supporting the same. The invention is not restricted to thisembodiment which is merely chosen by way of example, a different number,place or embodiment of the supporting members may be used within thescope of the invention.

As schematically indicated at I6 it will also be possible to providerecessed handles along the side of the stretcher.

In Fig. 9 is illustrated how the rolling core 3 may consist of apreferably flexible tube on which the length of material is attached andwound and in which a corresponding core may be rotatably arranged,provided with rings or eyes I'I, to which drawing cords I8 may beattached which cords are not rolled up together with the stretcher I.

, trudes beyond the By pulling on the said cords i8 the rolling corewith the stretcher which for the greater part is still rolled up, may bepassed under the patient. 'I'he tube will then turn about the coreprovided with the rings I1 so that the stretcher will be furtherunrolled. The core may consist of tWo parts and if desired may bearranged only in the ends of the tube. The cores I 8 may be omitted ifdesired and also the rings I1 if the core protube and is adapted to begripped for unrolling the stretcher.

Having now fully described by invention, I claim:

1. A stretcher including a flexible sheet of material such as a textilefabric adapted to be rolled up toward an end thereof, handle means uponone end of said sheet and iiexible draw means of a length at least equalto that of the sheet connected to the other end of the sheet serving forthe unrolling of said sheet upon pulling the same when the sheet anddraw means are folded double at the junction of the same and beginningat the fold the sheet is rolled up with at least a portion of the drawmeans into a roll.

2. A stretcher according to claim 1, in which the draw means includesdraw members in the form of bands or strips of flexible material such asa textile fabric.

3. A stretcher according to claim l, in which the end of the flexiblesheet which lies inside the roll when said sheet is rolled up has atransverse roll consisting of a ilexible rolling core.

4. A stretcher according to claim 1, in which the end of the flexiblesheet which lies inside the roll when said sheet is rolled up has atransverse roll consisting of a flexible rolling core, and in whichopenings are provided in the sheet near the flexible rolling core insuch a way that the rolling core may be gripped as a handle WithintheWidth of the stretcher.

5. A stretcher according to claim 1, in which the draw means includesdraw members in the form of bands or strips of flexible material and thesheet and the draw members have adhesive properties so as to preventlateral shifting of the still rolled-up draw members and of therolled-up portion of the sheet during the unrolling of the stretcher.

'ANTONTUS JOHANNES MATHIJ S VAN GASSELT.

